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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23628652">Be Alive With Me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drake_Dragua_22/pseuds/Drake_Dragua_22'>Drake_Dragua_22</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>RWBY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abuse, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Amputee Yang Xiao Long, F/M, Falling In Love, Heart-to-Heart, Heartwarming, Heartwrenching, Hurt/Comfort, Oral Sex, Pain, Psychological Trauma, Sex, Suffering, Tender Sex, Tenderness</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:35:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>13,229</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23628652</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drake_Dragua_22/pseuds/Drake_Dragua_22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU future<br/>Yang Xiao long is meeting with her team after years away and avoiding them her nightmares of Adam and the mental suffering have taken a toll on her. Can Jaune get through to her with what he's been through and his own faults and fears?</p><p>WARNING THIS MAY TRIGGER SOME FOLKS AS THERE IS PHYSICAL ABUSE, ALCOHOLISM, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA</p><p>DISCOUNTED</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jaune Arc/Yang Xiao Long</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>45</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi everyone this is my first fanfic ever. I've always loved the pairing of Jaune and Yang, and never really found much of it to satisfy my tastes. please leave your thoughts as it would mean a lot to me</p><p>I do not own RWBY</p><p>RWBY is owned by Rooster teeth and Monty Oum</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Be alive with me Ch1</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“The 10:30 train for Vale is now boarding, will all passengers please start the boarding process at platform 2B.” the PA finished.</p>
<p>                The waiting had been long and bothersome; as it was an off season for most and they were heading back to meet with family. Yang looked up from her scroll to see all the people lining up. She had passed the time scrolling through the photos her younger sister had been sending her. Photos of her latest missions, of Zwei being dressed up in outfits that had been less than dignifying for him, and of course with the rest of the team whenever they were together. <em>‘Simpler times’</em> the blonde thought to herself.</p>
<p>                She got up from her bench and swung her bag over her shoulder, time to get in line and board the train. She hadn’t seen her teammates for a couple of years now. Of course, they kept in touch via messaging and video calling but, Yang had been keeping those interactions limited. She would always give excuses that she was on important missions, or that she was too hungover from the previous night to keep conversations long. She handed her ticket to the conductor and he welcomed her aboard. Yang made her way down the train cars to near the front of the train, to her private booth she had booked in advance. She didn’t want to share the train ride with someone else, she wanted to be left alone. The blonde wanted peace and quite on her voyage back, just time to herself before meeting her team and the chaos that would erupt inevitably. The though made her smile softly. It wasn’t that the team was trouble, more so that trouble found them. And sometimes the trouble would find them because they couldn’t help but get involved in schemes to unravel less than reputable people.</p>
<p>                She arrived in front of her booth and slid the door open, the booth was clean and had the aesthetic of her dorm back at Beacon. Seats bolted to the walls and table in the center, with a window on the other end looking out. She closed the door behind her and sat down on one of the seats. Yang let out a deep sigh as she removed her robotic arm, she wouldn’t need it for now, besides she wanted to be comfortable; and it would be hard with a robotic arm nudging you in the sides if you weren’t careful. She placed it on the table in front of her near the window <em>‘Wouldn’t want you to fall and wake me up from my beauty sleep.’ </em>she whispered softly to her arm. Scooting over to window she looked out wondering when they’d start moving. Her lilac eyes being vaguely reflected back at her as she gazed out towards the station; people walking, some with a kick in their probably needing to be on time for something, while others were in groups hugging and being hugged, probably headed out on their journey or returning home from one. Though, looking at them brought a hint of sadness on Yang’s face, reminiscent of when Team RWBY went their ways on missions all those years ago. The blonde looked away as to not dwell any further on those thoughts, but couldn’t help her mind wandering on those thoughts.</p>
<p>                The sudden jerk of the train indicating movement brought her out of her thoughts. She reached for her scroll in her pocket and sent word to her team.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>Yang: Just started moving, be in town by nightfall.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Ruby: FINALLY!!!!! ME AND BLAKE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOREVER FOR A RESOPNSE!!!!!!!!!!</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Weiss: Thank God, I was beginning to wonder if I had to come get you myself.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Blake: We’ll be waiting for you, stay safe.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p><em>‘Blake’ </em>Yang thought to herself, it had been five years since they broke up and well things weren’t bad between them, they weren’t the best either. Blake had been wanting to talk to her about it for a while, but Yang had always been reserved when the topic had been brought up. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to talk about it with Blake, it was just that it was hard to talk about for her. She wanted to talk about but she knew if she did; words would be thrown around, accusations would’ve been made, Yang would lose her temper, things would be thrown, and it would end with her standing her eyes crimson red, tears running down her face, and regretting everything she did. </p>
<p>                Yang closed her scroll and laid it on her lap, leaning her back she stared at the ceiling “Well, there’s no turning back now.” She murmured to herself closing her eyes and drifting off into a deep slumber.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Wake up Sunny Dragon.” Yang woke up hearing a familiar voice that she couldn’t quite pin down, her eyes opening fully as she looked around and it dawned on her. She wasn’t on the train anymore, where she was now was barely lit, and the smell of something burning was in the air. She looked around to see if there was a fire from where the smell was coming from. But there was no fire only rubble, rubble that looked all too familiar to her.</p>
<p>
  <strong>‘KABOOOOMMM!!!!!!!!!!’</strong>
</p>
<p>A large explosion sent shockwaves from behind her, Yang snapped back to see what happened and she saw the familiar tower. Her eyes widened as now it dawned on her of where she was, <em>Beacon. </em>She started running away from the tower, Yang knew she had to get out of there so she started running faster than she could. Sprinting at full speed she heard the voice return, “Where do you think you’ll run to <em>Yang?”</em> The voice asked in a sinister tone.</p>
<p><strong>“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!” </strong>Yang screamed as she continued running covering her ears.</p>
<p>“Now why would I leave here Yang? I’ve grown quite fond of this place. The bleak atmosphere, the endless amount of self-pity and loathing, oh and the <strong>FEAR</strong>.”</p>
<p><strong>“SHUT UP!!!!!!” </strong>Yang again screamed back to the voice. From the corner of her eye she could see something sharp being hurled towards her. She tried stopping but at the speed she was running at it was impossible. She stumbled and fell forward whatever that was thrown at her barely missing her. Yang lying on the ground breathing heavily felt pressure on her lower back, she tried turning her head to see what it was when suddenly….</p>
<p><strong>‘WHAP!’ </strong>something smashed against Yang’s face. She could feel her nose bleeding, and she felt her head being stomped on <em>hard</em>.</p>
<p>She felt a hand on her shoulder turning her over to her back, and now she could see clearly who was hurting her.</p>
<p>“<em>Adam.”</em> Yang snarled fiercely at the man who was standing over her. No eyes visible on him just his Grimm mask covered in red markings.</p>
<p>“Been a while Yang, how have you been?” he asked in an extremely condescending tone.</p>
<p>“FUCK YOU!” Yang hissed at him fiercely.</p>
<p>“Is that any way to treat an old friend?” he continued as he stomped down hard on her chest, Yang could feel a rib or two crack under the pressure of his foot.</p>
<p>“Who’d be friends with a psychopath like you.” The blonde responded.</p>
<p>“Well your friend Blake was.” Adam answered smugly.</p>
<p>The answer made Yang’s blood boil, her eyes burning red, she had enough of his scathing words. She grabbed his foot with her left hand, and took aim at his head and swung her right arm at him, indifferent to whether it would kill him or not she didn’t care.</p>
<p>But nothing happened, she looked at her arm and all the blood in her face froze. Yang’s arm was gone well the robotic prosthetic was gone. Instead it was only the bloodied stump of her right arm. It was freshly cut, blood spurting out all over her and Adam’s leg. Her face horrified as she let out a pain and blood curdling scream.</p>
<p>“Looks like <em>you</em> could use a <em>hand</em>.” He commented smugly as he pointed over to Yang’s side. Yang shivering as she slowly looked over to where he pointed at. Her eyes widened as she saw her severed arm lying there in a pool of its own blood. Her gaze fixated on it, as she felt being picked up slowly. A hand grabbing her chin and forcibly averting her gaze. Now looking at Adam, a twisted, sickening, stomach turning smile on his face.  “Let’s have some fun.” Came from his lips and reaching Yang’s ears, as it did she felt her limbs go limp, the fight in her being slowly drained out.</p>
<p>He slapped her hard with his free hand then back handing her, and again and again and again. Until Yang’s cheeks were bloodied red, blood seething in her mouth. She tried kicking but he just shrugged them off, Yang feeling desperate punched Adam’s face with all her might with her remaining arm. It did something just not what she’d hoped. Adam’s Grimm mask flew off revealing his unbranded face, there was no SDC branding over the left side of his face, instead there were eyes <em>Both</em> of them. His cold blue and grey eyes staring back into Yang’s lilac eyes, “Shouldn’t have done that love.” Disappointment in his voice as he punched her straight in the nose, blood dripping from there and onto the hand that held her. Yang feeling helpless tried punching him again, she landed a clean hit on his face, but Adam was indifferent to it. He threw her hard off to the side with force so hard Yang kept tumbling and rolling until her back hit a block of rubble, blood spewing from her mouth through the force of the hit.</p>
<p>Yang was scared, she was helpless, she didn’t know what to do. She frantically looked for any means of escape or to fight back. She saw a long piece of rebar to her right, she tried rushing to grab it but something grabbed her hand. She quickly turned to see what was delaying her and she let out a pained scream.</p>
<p>                “Ruby?” Yang tried asked in a soft and shocked tone to her younger sister who was impaled to the rubble right next to her by Crescent Rose. Yang looked down at Ruby’s hand it was covered in blood, she didn’t know what to do <em>her</em> younger sister, <em>her</em> world, <em>her</em> everything was impaled right beside her. “Y-Yang? I-I’m s-scare-d.” the younger sister was barely able to finish those words as blood started dripping from her mouth. Yang’s heart was shattered her sister, <em>HER</em> world was dying and Yang couldn’t do anything to stop it she raised her sister’s face. “IT’LL BE FINE RUBY YOU STAY WITH ME OK? YOU STAY WIT-…” Yang stopped as she saw the light leave her sister’s innocent silver eyes. Yang was horrified her sister’s head slowly bowed down and the bloodied hand slowly loosening its grip on Yang’s hand.</p>
<p>                Yang’s sensing deafening as she looked at her younger sister’ corpse just there, with blood on her already black and red outfit, Yang wanted to scream but something petite and very white was thrown at her. she hit the rubble and knelt down with what or rather who was thrown at her lying there in her lap. Yang’s sight came to and she saw who was in her lap, “Weiss?....” she was almost unable to speak with the sight of what was in front of her. The young heiress laid lifeless in her lap her eyes open and lifeless, her face bruised but what drew Yang away from the sight of those was Myrtenaster. Myrtenaster was driven right through her neck as rivers of red marked their way from the wound.</p>
<p>                Before Yang could say anything about the sight in front of her Adam’s voice spoke, “The young heiress thought she could make her stand against me, <em>admirable</em>, but sadly her determination was misplaced. Well consider her debt to the Faunus paid in full, as for the rest of the Schnee family I’m going to collect, <em>Personally</em>.” He walked forward his blade drawn in his right hand and something else in his left, Yang could see what it was but she didn’t want to know.</p>
<p>“THIS ISN’T REAL!!!!!!” Yang yelled “YOU’RE DEAD! BLAKE AND I <em>KILLED YOU</em>!” She continued screaming towards Adam.</p>
<p>“That may be true, but that doesn’t mean I will let go of you that easily Yang. I’ve suffered at the hands of many, now it’s time for you to <em>share</em> in my suffering.” He answered maliciously. With the blink of an eye Adam appeared right in front of Yang. He knelt down to her level his cold eyes meeting her pained ones, he rammed his sword through yang’s shoulder pinning her back. Yang screamed, almost to the point that her voice was gone. Adam moved Weiss’s corpse with his free hand and something else in its stead. Adam grabbed Yang’s Blonde hair and forced her to look at what he set down in her lap. Yang sealed her eyes shut she didn’t want to see what he put down, she was scared to see it. Adam displeased with what he saw, Yang’s eyes closed. Now how will she see what he brought her, so Adam improvised.</p>
<p>He took his thumb and slowly kept pushing it into Yang’s closed eye, Yang squirmed and screamed, trying to get away from Adam. But Adam didn’t relent his grip on her hair tight and his thumb still digging into her eye. “Either you look at it or <em>I</em> will make things <em>much, much worse.”</em> Yang complied she couldn’t take this anymore she wanted it to be over, so she did as Adam told her to. Adam pulled his thumb back and Yang opened her eyes barely, and she looked at what he had set down. Her life left her body at the sight of what she saw. Blakes severed head sitting there in her lap, Blakes amber were just filled with pain and fear.</p>
<p>Yang was done, she didn’t want to see anymore she didn’t want to <em>suffer</em> anymore. “Just do it now. I can’t take anymore, just finish it.” Yang said with a defeated and lifeless tone.</p>
<p>“That’s it? No fighting anymore. No anything.?” Adam asked proudly. Yang shook her head <em>‘No’</em> she gestured.</p>
<p>Adam lifted her head up towards him, “But I’m not done Yang. Not now not ever” He responded “I’ll come and go as I please Yang I’m not done with you. Not now, not ever I will be lurking in the darkest corner of your mind. I will not rest Yang and neither will you.”</p>
<p>He pulled his sword from her shoulder and sliced at Yang’s throat.</p>
<p>Yang woke up breathing heavily as there was a knocking on the door of her booth. “Refreshments!” a warm and comforting voice came from the other side of the door. Yang got up lazily from her seat and opened the door, she was greeted by lady who was about fifteen years her elder. she had a warm smile on her face the kind you would see when you go visit your parents after years apart. ‘<em>Home.’ </em>Yang thought to herself but brought back to reality when the lady asked if she would like anything. Yang’s stomach grumbled as she nodded yes to the lady, “Were doing spaghetti today, or would you like something else?”</p>
<p>“No, that’ll be fine ma’am.” She took the tray filled with spaghetti the lady had handed her along eating utensils. “Are you alright dear?” the lady asked with concern radiating from her voice. “It’s just been a <em>long</em> day ma’am.” The lady nodded understandingly. “Here.” She knelt down in to her cart and brought out a small half-pint bottle of whisky, and handed it to Yang. “We’ve all been there dear, just don’t drink all of it at once.” Yang nodded in understanding. She set the tray and bottle down on the table and waved back to the lady who waved her goodbye as she closed the door behind her.</p>
<p>Yang grabbed her prosthetic and put it back on her stump, her left arm still trembling from the nightmare. She started flexing her right arm to just get any sort of normalcy, as she sat back down. ‘Another one, that makes three this week.’ She thought to herself. She rolled the sleeve of her left arm revealing her bandaged arm underneath, covering the scars that she inflicted to herself those times ago. Yang took steady deep breathes to calm herself as she’d learned online, her stomach grumbled again telling her to focus on the tray of spaghetti in front of her.</p>
<p>Yang took a fork in one hand and a spoon in the other, and started digging into the food. Taking her first bite of the spaghetti and slurped up the bits that were hanging from her mouth. The food reminded her of dad’s cooking, ‘<em>Home’</em> she thought to herself remembering of the fond memories she had there with dad and ruby. ‘Ruby’ she thought and the sight of her cold lifeless corpse from her nightmare flashed. She didn’t jump at flashbacks as she used to, not entirely immune as they still made her jump from time to time, as all the broken cups, mugs, and plates she’s dropped over the past years were proof.</p>
<p>She leaned her back again and let out a deep sigh before she got back to devouring her food. She finished some time later and the tray was almost wiped clean, <em>almost anyways</em>, now Yang’s gaze was locked on the bottle of whisky. Yang started to reach towards the bottle before smacking her own hand away, “No! I’m not gonna go down that road again.” She steeled herself with her remarks. Alcohol and what she was going through didn’t mix, well the did mix but what would be left in its wake was less that dignifying. She turned her sight to the window and to the outside world, just taking in the greenery and some semblance of peace. She pulled out her scroll to see how much time till her destination was reached.</p>
<p>It was six o’clock now with less than an hour to reach her destination, with a message from Weiss.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Weiss: So……. Don’t be alarmed there might be a slight change to the plans.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Ruby: IS GOOD?! IS IT BAD?! ARE WE GOING TO NEED TO CHANGE HOTELS?!?!?!?!</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Weiss: No, you dolt! Just a little more than I could carry, our accommodations have already been arranged with the hotel so nothing to worry about.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Blake: Well that’s a relief. Speaking of which, how far are you Yang?</strong>
</p>
<p><strong>Yang: Less than an hour. </strong> <strong>😊</strong></p>
<p>                ‘I didn’t need to send that, feels a bit too much.’ Yang thought to herself, but the text was already sent, not much she could do about it now. That whisky bottle was looking rather very appealing right now, but Yang silenced that thought. But against her better judgment she grabbed the bottle and put it in her bag, ‘Couldn’t hurt with how things might go.’ Yang put her arms on the table to set her head down, she wasn’t going to try to sleep just enjoy the solitude she had.</p>
<p>“We have arrived at the Green Stalk Station in the Kingdom Vale. Thank you for traveling with us, enjoy your journey.”</p>
<p>                Yang raised her head as the announcement ended, ‘Finally.’ The thought of seeing her sister flooded her mind and warmed her heart. Seeing Weiss again would be nice too, her had demeaner had drastically from their first meeting back at Beacon. And seeing Blake, Yang felt a wave of sadness wash over her, ‘Oh yeah <em>that</em>’ Yang would have to face it sooner or later, but she preferred it would be later, <em>way later</em>.</p>
<p>                Yang grabbed her bag and made her way off of the train, to and now out of the station. She checked her scroll to confirm the address of the hotel and made her way there. She preferred walking for now Yang was still undecided if she should get another motorcycle after the previous one had made extremely close acquaintance with Adam’s well-being. “Adam.” The very thought of him soured her entire being, so she quickly moved on from the subject matter not wanting to dwell on the topic any more than she needed.</p>
<p>                After of about thirty minutes of walking Yang had finally reached her destination <strong><em>‘Crystal Faunus’ </em></strong>read the sign as she stood before the giant building ‘Weiss really outdid herself this time’ Yang thought to herself with a warm smile brushing over her face. She made her way to the entrance the doors were opened for her by the doormen who bowed and greeted her. Yang will admit that did make her feel special, she made her way to the check-in desk to well, you know check-in.</p>
<p>                At the check-in desk Yang was greeted by a female bunny Faunus, who reminded her of Velvet who now was a proper Huntress. A main difference between the clerk in front of her and Velvet was, that the clerk was a silver haired Faunus with deep piercing blue eyes, and well one was a Huntress and the other was the clerk. “What can I help you with ma’am?” the clerk asked. “Here to check in the, name’s Yang Xiao Long.” She answered with a smirk. “Ah yes Ms. Xiao Long there was a situation with your and the others rooms, please take this and head to the restaurant over that way.” She gestured to her right to an attendant as she gave her a slip. “Right this way ma’am.” The attendant gestured for her to follow as he led the way. Yang took the slip and followed the attendant to the restaurant, as they were walking Yang opened the slip to see what it read;</p>
<p>
  <strong> Just come on over and it’s alright to cry.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>                                                      -W. S.</strong>
</p>
<p>Yang was a little confused at the note, as they both reached the restaurant the attendant spoke with the head waiter who asked yang to follow him. She followed him to near the back where there was a big booth area, “Your table Ms. Xiao Long. The others will be arriving.” The waiter said as he took a bow and left. ‘What othe- ‘before Yang was able to finish that thought she was bombarded by a streak of red moving at blinding speed and tackled her and grabbed Yang around the waist. Red rose petals flew around Yang giving away who clung to her waist. Before she even needed to look down for confirmation, “Hey Ru- “She was cut off again by a soothing familiar albeit a rather high-pitched voice. “HI YANG DID YOU MISS ME?! DID YOU MISS ME?!” Yang looked down at her younger sister “NOPE.” She replied smugly</p>
<p>Ruby made a pouting face before it was washed over by a warm smile as yang grabbed her sister and pulled her into a tight embrace. “Well there goes the subtlety.” Another familiar voice sounded. Yang’s ears perked high because of who that voice belonged to, “Hey Yang.” That voice continued. “Hey Blake.” Yang responded in a rather somber but warm tone. ‘Oh, yeah. That.’ Ruby softly said under her breath. Yang took a good look at Blake, it has been a while since the last time the both of them saw each other, since their not so perfect ‘separation’</p>
<p>Blake was almost unchanged her hair still short at shoulder length, her Faunus ears roaming freely on her head, and here eyes. Glistening amber eyes that were warm but there was still a hint of sadness in them. “Come Here.” She opened her arms gesturing for Yang to complete the embrace. She was hesitant at first, but with a little nudge from Ruby she went in for the embrace. The embrace was warm and kind but Yang still felt <em>something</em> was off but she didn’t care, Yang just wanted to feel the warmth of the embrace.</p>
<p> “Well, looks like you dolts got started off without me. Typical.” The voice of the ice queen sounded as she walked in with authority. “Well somebody had to.” Ruby quickly responded with a tongue out. Weiss gave a defeated sigh as she opened her arms for Yang, “Come here dolt senior.” Yang left Blake’s embrace for Weiss’s. Though many would assume Weiss’s embrace was as cold as her icy glare, all of them would be wrong. As the blonde who towered over Weiss stood in front of her, Weiss jumped at Yang the hug her dearly and as hard as she could. Yang returned the embrace as she held Weiss some distance over the ground. The two remaining members of Team RWBY embraced both Weiss and Yang, with Yang at the center.</p>
<p>They held the group embrace for some time before Yang put Weiss down, and all of them took a moment to gather themselves.</p>
<p>“So, what took you so long?” Blake asked Weiss in a semi-deadpanned tone. “Well, I had some <em>stuff</em> I needed to make sure was proper before I made my way down.” Weiss answered. “What kind of stuff?” Ruby perked up asking.</p>
<p>“This kind of stuff.” A confident voice answered the question walking in, revealing himself to be a tall and lean man with sharp blonde hair and recognizable blue eyes.</p>
<p>“Hey there vomit boy.” Yang said to the oh so recognizable man in a warm tone.</p>
<p>“Oh, great, we’re doing throwback nicknames again. Great.” The blonde responded with a defeated sigh.</p>
<p>“Oh fine, vomit <em>Man</em> then.” Yang corrected herself as a soft smile wore on the blonde man’s face.</p>
<p>“C’mon Jaune.” She gestured him to come join them “We got another hug in us and room for one more.” She finished.</p>
<p>Jaune came in to the group embrace he towered almost everyone and even yang, his arms large enough to wrap them around Team RWBY, which has nice as his warmth, aura, and his presence was so welcoming and comforting that no one rejected it. As for Yang who was in the middle of all of this she wanted to take it all in, all the love from her team (yes even Jaune) and being in the center of all of it made Yang feel <em>safe</em>. Something she hadn’t felt for a long time, something she wasn’t sure for how much longer she would have.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Pulling Fate</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p>The young Huntsman and Huntresses had just finished their dinner courtesy of Weiss who had ordered their meals in advance for all them. When asked if it was really necessary, she referred to the last time team RWBY had gone out to dinner, and had spent nearly thirty minutes trying to figure out what to order from the appetizer menu. She heard no complaints after that mention. The group made their way to the front desk to check-in for their rooms, Weiss had explained to them that she had booked two rooms for the five of them. Her team assumed they would be sharing a room reminiscent of their days at Beacon, while Jaune would get his own. Though that assumption was incorrect as Weiss had explained that her and Jaune would be sharing a room, while Blake, Ruby and Yang were sharing the other.</p><p>Her explanation drew a few looks from her teammates, which she brushed off; explaining that she didn’t want Jaune to feel alone and to ask the others to share the room with him would be awkward. Though Yang would’ve preferred that Weiss had asked them beforehand. She figured that it would’ve been a great way to get some space between her and Blake, because she knew that there was going to be a conversation between them regarding their current status. And well, Yang wasn’t ready for that conversation yet; she just wanted time to sort through herself first. Which gave her an idea.</p><p>While Jaune had split off from the group to go get the key cards from the check-in desk, Yang got the idea to drag Weiss off to the side and out of the lobby.</p><p>“Uh Yang, what are you doing?” the heiress asked confused.</p><p>“Just wanted a sec to talk with you.” The blonde brawler answered as she was still dragging Weiss.</p><p>“Can it wait until morning? I’m exhausted right now and I’d really like to lie down a bed.” Weiss said as a yawn escaped her.</p><p>Yang had finally stopped in the open garden area of the hotel, she turned to Weiss with a hint nervousness creeping up on her, “It’s about that actually.” She stopped and took a deep breath before continuing. “Would you mind <em>if</em> we switched rooms?” she asked hesitantly. Weiss gave Yang a deadpanned look with a raised eyebrow. “Umm, what?” the heiress asked as if someone had asked her which way is up. “I know its out of the blue, but it would mean a lot to me if you were able to.” Yang explained. There was silence between the two as they both looked at each other. Weiss though looking more intensely at Yang, her eyes piercing through the brawler. “Why?” she asked Yang hesitantly breaking the silence between the two. “Oh, you know I haven’t seen Jaune in a good minute, and thought it would be a good opportunity to catch up.” Yang explained while scratching the back of her head. “Why?” the heiress repeated unsatisfied with that poor excuse of an explanation. “Just to catch up with him.” Yang answered knowing that it was an unsatisfactory response.</p><p>“So, let me get this straight.” Weiss started. “You, Yang Xiao Long want to switch rooms with me, so can spend time and catch up with Jaune Arc. Jaune Arc who you barely had much interactions outside of team exercises during our years at Beacon, who during our limited stay at Argus you barely started a conversation with even though we were staying with <em>his sister</em>, who even at Atlas you barely interacted with preferring the company of one Blake Belladonna. That Jaune Arc?” Weiss paused looking at Yang who’s gaze slowly shifted towards the ground. A hint of shame crawled into Yang’s mind <em>‘When you say it like that’ </em>she thought to herself, Yang raised her eyes back up to meet with Weiss’s who was still staring intently at her. “I mean-“ Yang started before being cut off. “And that’s just the bare minimum, I can still go into detail if you’d like Yang.” Weiss finished as she looked deadpanned at Yang waiting for the blonde to try and justify her reasoning.</p><p>Yang let out a deep sigh knowing there wasn’t any way around this with Weiss, “I know this isn’t the best way to deal with the situation currently, but I just need some space from Blake right now. The more time we spend around each other I feel the more likely we are to have <em>THAT</em> conversation between us. And I’m just not ready for that yet.” Yang explained honestly. Weiss closed her eyes and pressed the bridge of her nose with a raised hand while letting out a deep sigh. Processing what she’s just heard took some energy out of her already depleted reserves. She didn’t want to deal with this right now, she just wanted to spend some quality time a bed and recharge; not deal with this right now.</p><p>But Yang is a close friend who right now needs her help, so Weiss took a couple of moments to try to come up with a solution to Yang’s situation right now. In those moments Yang looked at Weiss with a look of impatience in her eyes, she started fiddling with her fingers waiting for a response. Weiss placed her hand on Yang’s shoulder there was sincerity in her eyes and her demeanor now soft as she locked eyes with the blonde brawler, “Look Yang, you can’t use Jaune to avoid your problem with Blake, you can’t do that to him, it isn’t right. This is a situation between you and Blake and I don’t want him to get dragged into it.” Weiss explained. “Why not?” Yang asked. “It’s Jaune we’re talking about here, you know he’s the kind of guy who’d move Heaven and Remnant for his friends, he’d be happy to help.” She continued. “That’s exactly why!” Weiss said with a sharp hiss “He’ll throw caution to the wind to help you or our team with anything.” She let out a deep breath “That’s the kind of man he is.” A small smile crept across her face.</p><p><em>‘</em><em>Oh.’</em>  Yang thought to herself as she saw the small smile on Weiss face, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” Weiss shot Yang a quick look, “Know what?” she asked her tone changed to be much sharper with that question. “Oh um, that you and Jaune a-“ Weiss shot her hand over Yang’s mouth muffling the rest of the sentence. “You’re not going to finish that sentence or that thought, or I <em>WILL </em>launch you into the stratosphere never to seen or heard from again. Understand?” her piercing blue eyes menacingly drilling into Yang’s own waiting as she waited for the blonde to confirm. It was a bit unsettling hearing Weiss making a threat, but Yang knew better than to test that statement. Yang nodded “Good.” Weiss replied as she uncovered Yang’s mouth and both of them eased up. “I’m sorry Yang, it’s just that things are a bit……. You know.” She trailed off gesturing with her arms but Yang figured out what she meant by it.</p><p>Another wave of silence swept over the both of them Yang wanted to be the first to speak up but Weiss beat her to it. “Look Yang I have been traveling with Jaune for a while doing missions, training, scouting, etc. And I get the feeling that that my “icy” personality might be rubbing off on him.” “Is that all that’s rubbing off on him, eh Ice Queen?” Yang snarked slightly nudging Weiss who shot her a deathly glare. “Oh, you <em>are</em> serious about that.” Yang said as she took a step back just to be safe. “Anyways.” Weiss continued “I was thinking that maybe Jaune could use a change of roommates for the stay here.” Yang gave Weiss a look asking, “So you’ll do it?” Weiss nodded her head in agreement. “But Jaune has to agree as well, and you can’t guilt him into agreeing understand?” she laid the ground rule for Yang who was ecstatic at the fact that Weiss has reconsidered.</p><p>Yang held both of Weiss’s hand in her own, the warmth radiating through her left hand almost assuring her, “Thank you.” Yang replied to Wiess there was joy in her voice at the prospect that things might be turning around for her. “Alright, alright let’s head back before the rest start to worry about us.” Weiss gestured as the both of them made their way back. Weiss took point as she remembered the way back to the lobby as Yang hadn’t noted the way back when she took Weiss for their <em>“talk”. </em>The both of them were greeted by the R and B of RWBY back at the lobby, though their tall blonde knight was nowhere to be seen. “Where did Jaune leave to?” Weiss asked Ruby. The red reaper had explained that while her and Yang had taken their absence, Jaune got the key cards to the room and made his way there after distributing them with the huntresses. Blake handed her former teammates the key cards, “One for you Ice Queen and one for you Yang.” The blonde brawler was able to detect a hint of something in Blake’s voice as she got the key card from her. “Thanks kitty.” Yang remarked towards Blake giving her a soft smile as well. Though internally Yang WAS screaming <em>‘WHY DID I SAY THAT?! I DID <strong>NOT</strong> MEAN TO SAY THAT TO HER IT JUST SLIPPED OUT!!!</em>’ Weiss started nudging Yang who was staring straight ahead not fixating on anything. She was able to get Yang to focus again who asked, “Here.” She brought up her key card gesturing for Yang to take it. “Oh yeah. <em>That</em>, thank you very much.” Yang replied as she exchanged key cards with Weiss. “Change of plans?” their cat fanus friend asked “Yes, I thought it might be nice to spend some time with ecstatic old friends, and Yang here wanted to catch up with Jaune and his adventures in Atlas.” Weiss answered confidently for the two of them. “Really” Blake asked turning to Yang with a skeptical look on her face. “Yeah, it’d be nice to see just how much Vomit Boy-I mean Man has really grown.” Yang Replied grinning.</p><p>Ruby let out a heavy yawn, getting the attention of her other former teammates. They noticed the creeping drowsiness in her eyes as she slouched forward, “Enough talk I’m sleepy, let’s go to bed.” She finished as another yawn escaped her. The other huntresses turned their sights towards each other and nodded in agreement, “It is getting pretty late.” Blake remarked as she took a look at her scroll. The now reunited team RWBY made their way to the elevators, after Weiss let the lady at the check in desk know of her and Yang’s switching of rooms, both of their luggage would be exchanged with each other’s rooms by the bellhops who had delivered them to the rooms. The four of them got into the elevator and made their way up towards the rooms. None of them talked preferring the silence and Yang could see why; her younger sister was barely able to keep herself awake, Blake looked as she still had some energy but her cat ears were already starting to droop forward indicating her level of exhaustion, Weiss had already let her know about her low energy, and as for Yang she was tired no doubt but she wasn’t looking forward to sleeping, well what came to mind when she slept to be precise. They had reached their floor and Ruby was the first to exit out of the elevator and the first to fall on her face, well almost. Blake was able to make the quick save as she grabbed Ruby’s cape, which prevented the red reaper’s fall and jolt her awake. It brought a smile to Yang’s face to see that her little sister hadn’t changed much since her first days at Beacon, sure she had gotten half a head taller and physique had gotten more toned over the years, but her mannerisms and youthful charm had mostly remained the same. Blake had grabbed a hold of Ruby and helped walk her to their room with Weiss leading the way. “Here we are, 503 for us and 403 for you Yang.” She gestured to her, Ruby’s, and Blake’s room, while Yang’s and Jaune’s room was directly opposite to them, <em>‘Just like Beacon’ </em>Yang reminisced. “Alrighty, so all our belongings should in the rooms and this is where we part ways for the night.” Weiss finished as she opened the room for Blake and Ruby <em>(who is already passed out at this point). </em></p><p>Blake gently laid ruby on her bed the poor reaper was already tuckered out and started snoring softly. Blake walked back outside into the hall with Weiss and Yang, “So, I guess we’ll meet up in the morning for breakfast or lunch?” The cat fanus asked stretching her arms above her head. “Yes, and now I believe there is a bed inside marked with my name on it.” Weiss spoke as she entered their room. “Ditto.” Yang remarked pointing to her room. The two bid Yang goodnight, “Nighty night.” She responded and they entered their rooms.</p><p>Yang closed the door behind her as she took in the sight of her room; the room was surprisingly spacious, the walls were painted a light blue color complimenting the white laminate floors, on her left there was a door probably leading to the bathroom, two beds set on either side of the room their ends facing her, one of which had her bag leaning against it, and there was a large curtain placed between the two beds probably a window Yang thought to herself. She walked over to her bag by the bed, put it on the bed and unzipped it, <em>‘No Jaune for now, time to get changed’</em> she thought to herself.</p><p>She scrounged around for a bit and pulled out a yellow and black tank top and a pair of white shorts. Yang started by taking off her jacket first, she slowly shed herself of it sliding her arms out of the jacket’s sleeves and she threw the jacket on the bed. The brawler now leaned back arching and stretching her back, she could hear the cracking of her bones as she let out a deep breath of relaxation. Now for her shirt, Yang started unbuttoning her shirt one by one and let her shirt ride over her shoulder, her arms ran back through the shirt as it fell to the ground. Yang now stood there her chest bare except for the bra she was wearing, her attention now focused on the bandages on her left arm. She reached to undo the bandages until she heard a very familiar voice coming towards her, “Hey Weiss you got held up late, I was wondering if you got lo………”.</p><p>Yang snapped her head back and her eyes witnessing the sight that stood before her; Jaune standing there in the open doorway of the bathroom shirtless wearing a grey pajama, his upper body was bare with the exception of the towel he was running through his hair. There was silence in the air between them, as they both were contemplating just what to say to one another. Neither wanted to lock eyes with other so they avoided each other’s gaze. Jaune covered his face with his towel and Yang fixated her sight on something else. It’s been five years since the huntsman and huntress had seen the other and, in that time, Yang noticed that Jaune had definitely grown, his muscles were well-toned and refined she wouldn’t exactly call him lean but he was <em>solid </em>as if he was chiseled out of stone. But Yang’s attention didn’t stay there for long as something else had demanded it. She turned her sight to Jaunes’ ribs on his left side and noticed the that stretched across there. A scar bigger than her hand demanded her attention and she began to wonder what had caused such a vicious reminder on the knights’ body.</p><p>“Oh uh, hey there Yang. Whatcha doin’ here?” the blonde knight asked flustered with the towel still covering his face. Yang could tell that Jaune was bright red under the towel embarrassed out of his mind. She found it adorable that even now as an adult Jaune still had that innocence in him. “Oh, nothing much just changing, what about you?” Yang answered nonchalantly trying to ease the situation that the two of them had found themselves in. “I saw that! I mean I saw that you were changing! No, I mean that I noticed that! Ah shit.” Jaune franticly answered. “It’s alright Jaune, I know that you didn’t mean to sneak a peek.” She tried to calm him down. “Well then umm, I’m going to go back and put a shirt on.” He spoke with the towel still covering his face. “You go do that I’ll be here.” Yang responded to him.</p><p>Jaune slowly started backing into the bathroom from where he came, slowly moving his arms around making sure that he didn’t bump into anything. Yang just watched as Jaune got into the bathroom closing the door behind him, she shook her and returned to the task at hand of finish changing. Yang unhooked her bra and slide it off and rolled on her tank top, likewise she slid out of her pants and underwear and slid on her shorts. She quickly folded her clothes and stuffed them into her bag and placed it back at the base of her bed. “Are you finished changing Yang?” Jaune asked from the bathroom “Yeah you can come on in.” She replied as she sat down her bed. Jaune made his way out of the bathroom now wear a plain white shirt on his no longer bear chest. He sat on his bed across from Yang staring at her, “Weren’t you, Ruby and Blake supposed to share a room?” he asked. “Well yes, but Weiss asked me to switch with her, something about you snoring.” Yang answered untruthfully. There was a confused look on Jaune’s face at hearing the answer, “She actually said that? Me? Snoring? Unbelievable”. “Yup, straight from the Ice Queens’ mouth I hope you don’t mind though, I’m a heavy sleeper you so don’t have to worry.” Yang responded assuring Jaune that he didn’t have to worry about anything though he explained that he didn’t snore because if he did Nora would’ve battered him in their dorms at Beacon.</p><p>“Well if you say so, and I don’t mind just happy to spend time with a friend. Though I am surprised that she asked you to switch with her.” he let slip out as he changed positions and laid himself down. “What’s so surprising about that?” Yang immediately asked Jaune. “I mean we weren’t the closest of friends back at Bacon, and haven’t really talked to each other for a while since. I mean Ruby makes the most sense she and I talked a lot with each other back then and still do now to some extent. With Blake I assume things would the same just like back then, she would just preoccupy herself with books and what not, and I would just mind my own business.” The blonde knight explained. Yang processed those words and thought to herself that Jaune did make some fair points, well all of his points valid. Though she was happy that Jaune had left it at that didn’t press further giving reason that he was tired and just wanted to sleep.</p><p>They both said goodnight to each other and tucked themselves into their beds. Yang could hear Jaune’s gentle breathing in the now darkened room as hours had passed. The blonde brawler would’ve preferred to sleep at this point but the thought of having another nightmare kept her up for the time being. She wondered if she still had any sleep aids left in her bag, she always kept some in case of nights like these. She slowly got up from the bed and reached for her bag, putting in the effort of not trying to wake up Jaune, she was well aware just how much of a heavy sleeper she was though she didn’t assume everyone shard her knack for the slumbering arts. She unzipped the side pocket and pulled out the sleep aid bottle and shook it lightly to see if there were any left, to which there was sound <em>‘Damnit empty’</em> she thought to herself as she threw it back into the pocket from which it came. She thought of what else she could use as she didn’t have a spare bottle with her. <em>‘Bottle’ </em>the thought crossed her mind ‘<em>I do have</em> <em>that</em>’ she said to herself as she opened the other side pocket. And there it was, the bottle that the older lady had given her on the train. Yang hesitated for a moment before reaching to grab the bottle wondering if it was a good idea or not, <em>‘I mean its not like I’m going to chug the entire bottle just a couple of sips to ease the nerves’</em> she thought as she grabbed the bottle and slowly unscrewed the top. She took a quick sip of the burning liquid as it made its way down her throat it followed by another, and another, and another after that. Yang let out a heavy burp, thankfully she was quick enough to cover her mouth to muffle its sound. She looked over to Jaune to see if he heard it, thankfully he didn’t. She screwed back the top of the bottle and put it back in the bag and made her way back to her bed, as she slid under the covers Yang could feel her body slowly warm due to the recently ingested alcohol. She decided to close her eyes as her sight grew heavier by the second, she got herself into a comfortable position and tried to fall asleep.</p><p>It took almost an hour of tossing and turning but Yang was finally able to doze off into some semblance of sleep. As she did though a single thought ran through her mind, <em>‘How bad will it be this time?’ </em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Never Letting Go</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A dream of what could've been. And a confession of what drives a certain Knight</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Wake up sweetheart, breakfast is ready.”</p><p>Yang heard an unfamiliar yet a comforting feminine voice calling out to her as she laid in bed, she didn’t want to open her eyes to see who was calling for her as it would mean she would have to wake up.</p><p>“Five more minutes.” Yang grunted back hoping that she would be left alone able to go back to sleep. That hope was quickly squashed as she felt someone sit beside her on the bed. That very someone was now leaning on her, Yang normally would push anyone who would do that off (except Ruby of course) yet Yang didn’t protest as she found this oddly comforting.</p><p>“You can’t keep sleeping all day dear, there has to be time for training too.” The voice continued</p><p>“Just five more minutes.” Yang answered as she felt a soft yet firm hand brush against her cheek.</p><p>“I’m sorry dear but you will be getting up and we all are going to eat breakfast together.” The tone of the voice was now firm. Without another word the covers over Yang were stripped away from her.</p><p>Yang squirmed as she now laid bare without her covers, “UGH, fine.” She let out defeated.</p><p>As Yang finally opened her eyes to see who dared wake her from her deep slumber. But who she saw made her eyes widen in shock.</p><p>“Raven?” Yang whispered at as she stared at Raven.</p><p>Raven the woman who gave birth to her, the very woman who left Yang and her father soon after, and the very same woman who justified leaving saying that she left to lead her tribe; to be strong and she couldn’t do that if she was tied down with a family. That Raven, who was now gazing softly back at Yang with her warm crimson eyes.</p><p>“Normally its mom, but I’ll make an exception for today.” Raven said tapping Yang’s head, “Now get up, your father made pancakes and we shouldn’t keep him waiting.”</p><p>Raven got up from the bed and made her way to the door, she stood in the doorway and looked back at Yang, “I love you my Sunny Little Dragon.” She said with a lovely smile and left.</p><p><em>‘I love you my Sunny Little Dragon,”</em> Those words from Raven left Yang dumbfounded. She tried processing the entire situation she found herself in; Raven was in their home at patch, waking Yang up for breakfast, and HER DAD WAS FINE WITH IT! She didn’t know what to say or what to think anymore, so she decided to do the only thing she could at the moment: get out of bed. Though it was easier said than done because leaving the soft and warm comfort of the bed proved challenging, but Yang pushed through because of the reward PANCAKES. That fueled Yang, nothing was going to stop her from eating those warm, soft, fluffy, succulent disks of wholesomeness. Sure, Ruby loved eating her chocolate chip cookies but even she couldn’t deny that her father’s Pancakes were the most sought-after food to be made at home, maybe even more than Super Mom’s homemade cookies.</p><p>Yang shook her head at that thought, her father’s pancakes were good but she wasn’t sure they were <em>THAT good</em>. Speaking of which, Yang made her way to her door to see if Ruby was awake and to see what to see what she thought of this whole ‘Raven’ situation. Yang knocked on Ruby’s door hearing the young girl’s voice as she waited for the door to open and yet again Yang was surprised by what she saw. She wasn’t greeted by her silver-eyed adorable trouble maker of a sister, instead she was greeted by someone else. She was greeted by a girl slightly younger than her, who was as tall as Ruby but instead of silver there were crimson red eyes. The younger girl’s face resembled Raven’s the only differences being that instead of a long black mane stretching down to her waist, her hair was twisted and turned in to a braided ponytail and rested on her shoulder. And her hair was an electric blonde color as if it was kissed by the sun itself.</p><p>“Did dad finish making pancakes yet?” the girl asked as she rubbed her eyes.</p><p><em>‘Dad?’</em> Yang thought to herself <em>‘Is she……... No there’s no way that’s possible’</em> Yang didn’t know how to process that question. “Uh, yeah?” Yang answered haphazardly as if it was right.</p><p>“You ok Yang, you seem a little off?” the girl asked again tilting her head.</p><p>“No, I’m uh, I haven’t just fully woken up yet.” Yang responded scratching the back of her head.</p><p>“Ok then, I’ll see you downstairs Yang.” The girl waved as she made her way downstairs past Yang.</p><p><em>‘This doesn’t feel right.’</em> Yang thought to herself as she made her way down with that gut feeling. Almost everything was the same here at home, she could hear voices coming from the kitchen area as she made her way there. <em>‘I wonder if Ruby’s here somewhere, I wanna see her reaction to Raven’</em> Yang was hoping to see her little sister soon to see if she felt the same way about Raven being here. As Yang made her way to the kitchen Taiyang, Raven, and the girl were all sitting around at the table with empty plates in front of them and giant stacks of pancakes just waiting to eaten were placed in the middle of the table.</p><p>“Took you long enough kiddo.” Tai remarked while gesturing for Yang to sit down at the empty seat between him and Raven opposite to the girl. Yang sat down and raven placed an empty plate in front of her as well as a bottle of strawberry maple syrup <em>‘How does she know I like that’</em> Yang thought as she stared at the bottle. Raven was never around for Yang so Raven couldn’t possibly know she liked that type of maple syrup not even Qrow knows or the rest of the team.</p><p>“Thanks Raven.” As soon as Yang finished she felt a light smack on top of her head. She looked to her left to see Tai giving her a glare, “What did I do?” Yang asked with her hands covering her head just in case she got smacked again. “Manners at the table.” Tai answered firmly while still maintaining the glare. “Alright dad.” She responded with a hint of sarcasm.</p><p>“It’s alright dear.” Raven spoke as she placed a hand on Yang’s shoulder, “I get mornings can make people a little sluggish, just look at your father. I had to drag him by ankles to the kitchen to motivate him to cook.” Tai was flustered at that little detail he hoped was going not to be mentioned, to which Raven let out an almost muffled laugh. “Well that wouldn’t have happened if a <em>certain</em> someone let me snooze for another fifteen minutes.” Tai was finally able to retort. “We have to set an example for our daughters dear, it <em>was</em> your idea by the way.” Raven shut Tai down immediately and made his cheeks blush.</p><p>Yang couldn’t believe what she was seeing, couple banter between her dad and Raven almost as if it was normal. Yang would’ve been lying if she said she didn’t like what she saw, but to see her dad being normal brought warmth to her heart.</p><p>“Well than let’s get started.” Tai said as he started placing pancakes on everyone’s plate from the stack in the middle. Everyone tore through the stacks pancakes Yang especially who probably went through almost half of them and no one batted an eye, thankfully. Well almost no one, the girl kept staring at Yang intensely as if she was bitter over a long-forgotten grudge. “Daaaad! Yang ate all the pancakes and didn’t leave enough for me!” She pouted. “Listen Freki you can’t be the one complaining, especially since you ate almost as much as Yang. If anyone has the right to complain its your mother and me.” Tai rubbed his over her head who was still pouting.</p><p>“Listen to dad Ruby, you should pick up the pace if you want more next time.” Yang shot a smug look at the girl. To which she just looked at her in confusion, “Who’s Ruby?” she asked. Yang paused for a second to process what she said but that thought process was quickly halted when Tai and Raven both chimed in “Yeah Who’s Ruby?” the asked. Yang didn’t know how to respond as it might lead to a certain line of questioning that she isn’t ready for. Yang’s pause was broken when she felt Raven’s hand gripping hers, “Yang dear, is everything alright?” asked her eyes showing concern. “Yeah it’s just…. it’s nothing.” Yang tried waving it off but Raven wasn’t having. “Is it about Beacon dear?” the way she asked her was soft and not condescending like their previous encounters. Yang thought that this would be the most opportune moment to get answers.</p><p>“Rave- Mom how did you feel about getting together with dad after Summer?” Yang corrected her question. “After Summer?” Raven responded to which Yang nodded her head.</p><p>“Yang dear, there wasn’t any ‘getting together’ after Summer. Your father and I have been together since our Huntsman years, there hasn’t been much that changed since.” Raven explained</p><p>“What about the tribe?” that question made Raven’s eyes widen a little. After a steading breath Raven spoke, “When you were born I was scared, I was scared by the fact that I knew I wasn’t ready to be a mother. Every fiber of my being told me to leave, and my instincts told me that a family isn’t wroth it and it’ll only slow me down.” Raven paused as her eyes started getting watery.</p><p>“What stopped you mom?” Yang asked as she moved to hold both of Raven’s hands squeezing them gently</p><p>“You did Yang.” She answered. “You couldn’t stand being away from me, crying whenever someone else would hold you, I found it quite endearing to be honest. And then it happened, your father was playing with you, the smiles on both of your faces the both of you looking so happy. And it finally hit me in that moment there was only one thing that came into my mind and has stayed with me since. That I’ll never let go.” Raven took one of her hands away to wipe her tears.</p><p>Freki got up from her chair and walked over to Raven and hugged her from behind, followed by Taiyang, who gestured to Yang to come over and she did. While Tai and Freki and were hugging Raven from the side Yang sat in Raven’s lap and gave her a tight hug, and Raven returned the hug in kind.</p><p>
  <strong>--------------------------------------</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>‘I’ll never let go.’</em>
</p><p>That was the last thought that Yang had before her eyes opened.</p><p>Yang sat up right in her bed and let out a heavy sigh, she rubbed her face and noticed her face was wet, <em>‘tears, great.’</em> Yang thought to herself looking back at her now tear stained pillow. She was disappointed at the fact that it was all just a dream, a dream of what could’ve been and it made her jaw clench and her teeth grit.</p><p>A cool breeze grazed her skin distracting Yang from her disappointment making her look over her shoulder. She noticed that the curtains were pulled back revealing the partly open balcony door, Yang looked over to Jaune’s bed to see if he still sleeping, unsurprisingly nope. Though not shocking, it did peek Yang’s interest enough so that she got out of bed to check on Jaune to see what he’s doing. Opening the door Yang was greeted by Jaune sitting in the balcony chairs leaning back into it with his feet rested up on the railing.</p><p>“Morning.” Jaune spoke raising a glass as he greeted Yang.</p><p>“It would be, if it wasn’t so dark out.” Yang retorted as she took the open seat next to Jaune. The view in front of them of the vibrant city lights would’ve been nice to the average person but not to Yang, not anymore. She preferred the countryside now, the fresh air, the abundant space, and most of all the simple life not bogged down by constant rush of city life, it is nice for the most part. That was all the Yang wanted to comment on that topic right now, she now turned her attention to Jaune who was staring off into the distance. Yang figured that since she was going to be spending the stay here with Jaune, she might as well get to know what he’s been doing in his travels with Wiess since becoming a Huntsman, but that thought was interrupted.</p><p>“You doing ok Yang?” Jaune asked still keeping his sight fixed to the view in front of him.</p><p>The question caught her off guard, Yang’s mind raced to answer as competently as she could. She couldn’t decide whether she should lie to him because Jaune might be able to see through it. Jaune was many things but he wasn’t stupid, a bit dense yes, but he was always able to surprise her with his cleverness from time to time.</p><p>“You were tossing and turning for the past hour, and then you started crying. I didn’t know if I should’ve woken you up or not.” He interjected as Yang was still mid-thought.</p><p><em>‘Shit, he heard’</em> the thought shot up in Yang’s mind as she tried to keep a straight face, she definitely didn’t want to talk about her issues right now. So she thought of letting Jaune know that she wasn’t willing to talk about it right now, and hoped he would understand.</p><p>“Jaune I know you mean well, but I don’t want to talk about it right now.” She spoke, hoping that he’d understand. To which he did, “I get it, sometimes things are rough and you just need time to process it. So, take all the time you need your team and I will be here for you when you’re ready to talk.” And that was it nothing further from Jaune. It was much appreciated but it did leave the atmosphere rather awkward, and that didn’t sit well with Yang. So to bring some levity to the situation she decided to ask Jaune about his adventures, he’s been traveling with Weiss so he must have some tales of their adventure.</p><p>“So, Jaune.” Yang started and Jaune’s attention turned to her “How you handling partnering with Weiss?”</p><p>Jaune seemed as if he was going to answer immediately, but instead took a moment to think about his response, “It can be a struggle sometimes, she can chew off your ear about perfecting strategy, combat prowess, and holding yourself to a higher standard because you should be setting an example as a Huntsman. But I wouldn’t have it any other way she pushes me to be better, to keep improving.”</p><p>“Yep sounds like Weiss.” Yang remarked. She knew first hand just how much Weiss pushed for self-improvement. It would get extremely annoying at times but in the end, she was usually right.</p><p>“Oh you should’ve seen her at Atlas, she was firing on all cylinders.” Jaune added</p><p>“I know Jaune, I was there. We all were.” Yang retorted</p><p>“Actually….” Jaune trailed off, “The both of us went back to Atlas after things settled down.”</p><p>“You did what?!” Yang was shocked at what she’d just heard. Yes, things had settled with Atlas and Ironwood but team RWBY thought it’d be best to just go their separate ways to avoid any future conflicts between them.</p><p>Jaune let out a fake laugh to ease himself as he explained why Weiss and him took such a drastic step to go back to Atlas. Apparently with all the technological resources and having the strongest military in Remnant, they knew it would the best place to hone their skills to almost unnatural levels. Jaune went on talking about his excruciating training with Ace Ops.</p><p>“And then Harriet tried lapping around and tried to slide under me for a blow to my legs, I was able to block only for Marrow to smack me with an overhead strike and smashing me into the ground.” Jaune finished.</p><p>“Jeez that sounds<em> vicious</em>.” Yang remarked, it was probably the third of fifth story Jaune had told about his training with Ace Ops. but she had lost count at this point, as she was completely enamored with these tales of strength and willpower coming from Jaune. Well almost completely as a question made it ways through her lips subconsciously.</p><p>“But why didn’t you come to us Jaune? We beat Ace Ops.” Yang immediately covered her mouth when she realized exactly what she’d said. <em>‘Oh shit, now isn’t the time to be bragging when he’s having his moment.’</em></p><p>Jaune just looked at Yang for a moment processing what was just said, “Actually, about that win………” he trailed off. Yang’s eyes widened at the look on Jaune’s face <em>‘There’s no way that they’d let that happen, that they’d just, no…… No…… NO!’</em> Yang wanted to dismiss the thought, but with the look that was on Jaune’s face her gut feeling was true.</p><p>“No, we won. It was a clear win.” Yang stated</p><p>Jaune shook his head, which kind of irritated Yang.</p><p>“We did.” Yang stated with an authoritative</p><p>He shook his head again.</p><p>“Don’t say it. Don’t’ you fuckin’ say it.” She hissed with a finger extended out emphasizing her point.</p><p>“Ace Ops. they………. let you guys win.” And with that statement Yang’s heart sank, their prize victory over Ace Ops. was now shattered <em>‘Why can’t I have such nice things.’</em></p><p>“GOD DMANIT!!!!!!!!!! THAT IS SOOOOO STUPID!!!!!!” Was all that Yang could let out.</p><p>“THAT’S WHAT I SAID!” Jaune shout out, matching Yang’s surprise. “I didn’t believe it either, and when I pressed them for an explanation they wouldn’t give me one saying that I wasn’t ready to handle that kind of information, and that I had to prove my worth to get that it.”</p><p>“Did you? I mean were you able to prove to them that you could handle it?” The question was asked after a pause.</p><p>Jaune nodded.</p><p>“Yep, after a year full of bone breaking training and missions I challenged them. And boy was it a gruesome fight, it lasted on for about three hours but when the dust settled and I was laid out on the ground bruised, they extended out a hand followed by ‘Not bad kid.’ And to this day it’s the second-best compliment I got at Atlas.”</p><p>“First of all, wow. Second of all Wow. Third of all WOW.” Was all that Yang could think of.</p><p>“Thanks that means a lot.” Jaune replied scratching the back of his head and a huge smile stretched across his face.</p><p>“So, what did they tell you?” Yang asked with her interest piqued.</p><p>“Well you’re gonna have to ask them that.” Jaune stated.</p><p>“What! Why?” Yang snapped at Jaune.</p><p>“Well its not <em>MY</em> secret to tell, if you want to know the truth you have to earn it.” Jaune answered back with a smug grin on his face.</p><p>“Fine, keep your secret not like I wanna know it.” She spoke as her mood was now annoyed.</p><p>“Good.” He stated.</p><p>“Oh, I wasn’t finished, though I can’t get that answer from you, I have to ask what is the <em>Best</em> compliment you got from Atlas? You said so yourself they gave you the second-best one.”</p><p>“Well...” Jaune trailed off looking at his left forearm, “This stays between you and me ok? No one else can know. Promise?” he asked Yang sternly. To which Yang just nodded but Jaune wasn’t having that, “Yang. I want you to PROMISE me that you won’t tell anyone, no matter what.” He stated, with the look in his eye told Yang this meant a lot to him.</p><p>“Jaune I promise that whatever you tell me will stay between us, no matter what.” She answered to him, no joke, no pun.</p><p>“Alrighty.” Jaune turned to Yang raising his left arm towards her at the eye level. Yang wanted to ask what he was doing, but then she saw it. A deep scar that was present on both sides of his arm, as if something sharp ran through his arm. Yang figured it wouldn’t have been caused by a grimm as it was too clean, too precise, as if a scalpel tore through his skin. “So, bit a of context. After Ace Ops. I went to the person I knew that would push me to my limit and beyond. One Winter Schnee.”</p><p>Yang’s eyes widened though she hadn’t fought Winter personally, she knew that Winter is a force to be reckoned with and before she could ask Jaune why, he continued.</p><p>“At first, she said no then she said no again the second time, then the third, then the forth, then the fifth and so on. She got annoyed to the point that she summoned beowolves and then set them loose on me. It took a while but I beat them, and thankfully she had cooled off a bit, just enough that she asked me why. Why am I so adamant to improve almost to the point of obsession.”</p><p>Yang wanted to ask that question too. Team RWBY’s training with Ace Ops. improved their skill immensely, and Jaune got all that time and attention to his lone-self training with them should’ve been more than enough.</p><p> “So why did you?” Yang realized she asked without thinking.</p><p>Jaune gave Yang a look. A look that she was all too familiar with. He didn’t have to say anything because his eyes said enough.</p><p>“Never again.” He said with sadness in voice. Yang wanted to ask what he meant but before she could utter a word he explained.</p><p>“After Beacon, after…. Pyrrha. I was consumed, first it was guilt and then it became hate. Hatred for what happened to Beacon, for what happened to Pyrrha, and most of all that I wasn’t able to stop any of it.”</p><p>Yang placed her hand on his shoulder comforting him because she was all to familiar with those feelings. Jaune gave her a look as if he was thanking her mentally and with a deep breath he continued.</p><p>“That feeling drove me down a path of pain. it was my sole motivation to improve so that when the time came I would be able to kill Cinder the next time we met. And well you know what happened next at our fight at Haven. I consumed by revenge and blinded by it that I didn’t care about what happened to me as long as I was able to get to Cinder. And because of that Weiss got hurt, she still tells me to this day that it wasn’t my fault, that if anyone was to be blamed it was Cinder. But that didn’t help much because I still felt like I was the one to blame for that. I wasn’t feeling revenge anymore just uselessness again and it would’ve destroyed me if it wasn’t for what happened at Argus.” He finished and Yang could see that his eyes were getting watery.</p><p>But she had to know what happened, Jaune hadn’t spoken much during their time Argus which was a concern at some point but Yang had brushed it off at the fact that it was because of the overwhelming information they had learned about Ozpin and Salem. But now she had the opportunity to find out.</p><p>“What happened at Argus?” She asked in the gentlest tone she could utter to show her sincerity.</p><p>Jaune steeled himself at those words and gave her an understanding look</p><p>“Pyrrha happened.”</p><p>“It was when we were looking for Oscar that I found a statue in memory of her. I would’ve broken down into a sobbing mess if it wasn’t for the lady that showed up.” He paused to think about exactly what he was going to say next, “At first I thought it was Pyrrha you know, she had the same exact hair color and eyes. Only difference was that her hair was short, she was wearing glasses, and was older. I thought that maybe she survived at Beacon that somehow someway she was here <em>alive</em>, but my heart told me no. I wanted to ask but I was cut off by her, by how beautiful the statue was by everything there……. We talked about the choice that she made, and how it wasn’t a choice but <em>duty</em>. The duty as a Huntress that she had to try, knowing she was going to fail.” He finished wiping a tear that was running down his face.</p><p>“Do you think that it was her mother?” She asked</p><p>“I don’t know, but I like to think it was. It’d like to think that, that night she was able to get some form of closure. As for me, it lit a fire in my heart a fire of ‘never again’. Never again will I stand on the sidelines helpless, never again will I let my rage blind me to what I have and never again will I let those feelings of hopelessness and guilty rule over me.” Jaune turned his sight to the sight that was in front of both of them.</p><p>“And that’s what I told Winter. She now understood the why, and that led to the training part. And well that part was full of excruciating rounds of training which was sooooo much worse than Ace Ops. I expected as much from her because I told her to never hold back. In hindsight I should’ve regretted it but, I didn’t. No matter all the broken bones, the dislocated joints-“ he gestured to the scars on his forearms. “And the time she impaled me with her blade. I will keep pushing forward no matter what. When the last day of training concluded she gave me the best compliment that I’d ever heard. She said and I quote, ‘Pyrrha would be proud of the man that you have become Jaune.’”</p><p>Hearing everything from Jaune made Yang swell with a proud feeling, that the man who sat beside her the one she always referred to as ‘vomit boy’ had overcome his personal demons and had grown into a fine man, if only she could do that herself. And with that thought her feeling squashed.</p><p>“Well I think that’s enough for the night.” Jaune spoke getting and letting out a deep and heavy yawn. “I’m going to tuck in for the night, you coming?” he asked as he stood in the doorway back to the hotel room.”</p><p>“In a bit.” Yang responded</p><p>“And Jaune, thank you for tonight and thank you for understanding.” She spoke stopping the blonde knight and making him turn back around.</p><p>“Your welcome.” He answered “Yang, I don’t know what you’re going through but I do know that you’ll make it through it, you’re the strongest person I know.” And a small smirk showed on his face. “Just <em>Yang</em> in there.”</p><p>Yang just looked at Jaune with a look of bewilderment, “Did you just?” she asked.</p><p>“Yes, I did. Someone’s got to put that beautiful smile back on your face.” He replied.</p><p>“And you thought it’ll be you?”</p><p>“Of course, besides that smile brings a certain glow in you Yang.” He finished and was gone before Yang could say anything else.</p><p><em>‘My smile huh?’</em> Yang thought to herself “Looks like vomit boy is no more. Who would’ve thought?” she smiled and closed her eyes trying to take in the fresh air of the outside.</p><p>[XXXXXXXXXXXX]</p><p>
  <em>A couple of hours ago, in a different room</em>
</p><p>“So, what’d you say to her?” Blake asked with her cat ears perked up</p><p>“Nothing, actually she was the one who suggested that we switch rooms.” Weiss responded.</p><p>“Well now <em>that’s</em> suspicious.” Ruby chimed in.</p><p>“To some extent yes, but because of that our plan moves along rather well.” Weiss replied.</p><p>“I just hope something stupid doesn’t happen between them.” Blake spoke while letting out a sigh of concern as she rubbed her face and her ears drooped down.</p><p>“Though that is a possibility, I have faith in Jaune.” Weiss answered back to Blake.</p><p>“I do too. Jaune’s a great guy and Yang is well… Yang, and if they’re able to hit it off they’ll be great together.” Ruby added to try and assure Blake</p><p>“I don’t know guys as good as our intentions may be this still feels <em>wrong</em> in some sense.” Blake voiced her main concern regarding this whole ideal.</p><p>Ruby and Weiss both sat on either side of Blake sandwiching her in-between and resting both their heads on her shoulders.</p><p>“I know Blake I feel the same way. But I won’t stand by and let Yang shut herself out, it might not be the best way but this is something. Which is why we’ll only push them together as a last resort, so until then we’ll let them work things out at their own pace.” Weiss comforted Blake.</p><p>“Thank you Weiss” Blake responded as she set her head against Weiss’s</p><p>“Don’t thank me this was Ruby’s idea.” Weiss corrected.</p><p>“Well yeah, both of yours were rather……. A tad bit extreme.” The red reaper spoke as she brought her arms around the other two bringing them in for a tight embrace.</p><p>“Can we stay like this for a bit longer?” Blake asked.</p><p>Both Weiss and Ruby nodded in silent agreement and the three of them sat there on the bed hoping things would work out for their two friends in question.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So Freki is based of Norse mythology. While Raven is based off of Odin's two Ravens Freki is one of the two wolves that accompany Odin, so i thought it would've been need.<br/>And ooooo<br/>A secret plan?</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Update</h2></a>
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    <p>Aloha!</p>
<p>Yes, while this isn't a chapter update, it is an update for the story. </p>
<p>I haven't updated this story in shall we say a while, and while I have typed rough drafts, those drafts alongside my laptop have been in the nicest way possible have been misplaced. </p>
<p>BUT FEAR NOT! <br/>Though I will continue this story I won't continue it in the way it stands, a rewrite of this story is in the works with the foresight that I lacked in this particular work.</p>
<p>Adjustments will be made as I want this story to be the best that it can possibly be.</p>
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